Sinn Féin - On Your Side

Morgan - Ireland must show moral leadership at WTO talks in Cancun

Speaking during the course of this afternoon's Statements on the World
Trade Organisation Talks in the Dáil Sinn Féin TD Arthur Morgan said that
Ireland must be a voice for justice and fairness. "The only proper
policy this government should adopt in the negotiations at Cancun is one of
moral leadership," he said.

Deputy Morgan said: "If we are to believe media reports, the coming WTO
talks are crucial to not just the future of the Irish economy, but
that super omnipotent force "international financial markets" and the
cause of "free trade".

"As a republican it reminds me of the Irish Volunteers who in the 1780s
used their military strength as a bargaining chip to force the British
Government to repeal the repressive Corn Laws and allow free trade
between Ireland and Britain. It wasn't just our trade that was held to
ransom by this and other British economic policies - it was our people who
were forced to endure poverty, deprivation, malnutrition, starvation and
death. Looking today at the realities of international financial markets
we can clearly see that other nations, other peoples of the world are now
enduring the same type of economic oppression.

"It is for this reason that the only proper policy this government should
adopt in the negotiations at Cancun is one of moral leadership. We must
be a voice for justice and fairness. We must be a voice for redressing
the inequalities that our economic policies are imposing on other
nations today. This means taking positive steps like acting on food export
subsidies, taking down tariffs on goods exported from developing states and
making our international companiesresponsible." ENDS